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MG MGF Technical - Steering sensitivity

Hello again

I am currently getting through a few problems with my F and you may of noticed I have recently been to techspeed.

Anyway I may be paranoid but I feel that the steering is very light on my car and since the car has been to techspeed the results of which are impressive I would be appreciative for anybody to shed light on what may or not be overly light steering.

I have thought about the power steering feedback control but have no idea how to check whether it is working correctly. Also the car did take a knock last year which is why I went to techspeed. Is there anything that may of been damaged due to a knock on the front wheels.

Last but not least without driving another F I cant say for sure that mine is overly light in the steering but compared to anything else I have driven recently it definetly is.


Many thanks in advance.

Stephen Laithwaite

Having been to techspeed i would think the cars sorted

maybe check tyre pressures and also inner edges of front tyres for wear
tony

I do find that the F requires quite a light touch.

Try disconnecting the EPAS fuse, maybe?
David Bainbridge

>Also the car did take a knock last year which is why I went to techspeed. Is there anything that may of been damaged due to a knock on the front wheels.

Have you told them about it before the did the modification ?

Which tyre width do you drive, front and rear ?
Dieter Koennecke

Tony

I have briefly read a thread about a fellow in Scotland with a new vvc which handles terribly and noticed that you contributed greatly.

Anyway the thing is the tyres are 185's at the front and yes they were defintley only wearing the first block on the inside of each tyre. This said I would hope that after a thousand miles or so the amount of " feel " will improve as the tyres hopefully wear more evenly.

All said and done I just cant help feeling that there is still something else amiss. That driving on ice feeling has gone but you would be a brave man at 70 to start moving that steering wheel too much.

As a final note all I can say is has there been a case where the EPAS has not been recieving the correct info and indeed is it speed controlled or is there a torque control as well.


Ps. If you can remember that fellow from Scotland he mentioned about a wheel rubbing on the inside liner. I also have this. Has anybody an explanation for this.


Thanks in advance.





Stephen Laithwaite

Seriously, do try unplugging the EPAS. Some people prefer it off, and it's safer and more fun to have no EPAS than scary EPAS!
David Bainbridge

I have had the same experience with the tracking. I have been told (!) they have changed the spec for MGFs so that the front tyres used to be toed in, now they recommend slightly toeing them out (because the cars prone to inner tyre wear) - this slight toeing out makes the steering lighter. Can anyone confirm this?
James

James,

I think it was the other way around. It used to be recommended that fronts toe out 5mins but now toe in 5mins. Anyway my old manual shows toe out on fronts. Toe in gives better stability at speed in my opinion as does fitting a splitter.

Bruce
Bruce Caldwell

Stephen,

Try going to a dealer and asking for a test drive in one of the cars on the Forecourt, you can spin them a line about trading up.....or down! Then you will have a comparison. I noticed how light the steering was on mine when I first bought it, compared to other cars.

Tryes rubbing on wheel arches is a common complaint, the BBS fix is to carefully take a hot air gun to the plastic and remould it a little, although mine has just been sorted under warrantry - the dealer said they "repositioned the Plastic liner."

Steve
Steve

My son has mentioned that his (new to him) VVC seems very light on the steering. I have read that if the car is revved whilst stationary it can disable the speed-sensitive part of the EPAS and I wonder if that can have happened. This also implies that if the ECU is faulty you could get the same effect.
Is there some way to "enable" the speed sensitive part of the EPAS?, or ensure that it is "enabled"?
T Green

The ECU displays a light on the dash when the PAS is disabled, and the steering will go 'firmer' not softer. If the PAS has lost the MPH reading then driving the car at over 3k RPM for any length of time (eg motorway driving) will cause this light to illuminate.

Will
Will Munns

Opps, and forgot to say that any reading from the speed input will turn the system back on.

Will
Will Munns

The tracking settings of the car will greatly affect the steering sensitivity.
I've just changed my tracking (again) and the steering is much lighter... but also much more neutral... which I think I prefer.

You can, and I often do, pull the big PAS fuse out from under the bonnet with no side affects. Worth trying at least once!

P.
Paul Nothard

Stephen.
My first F had no EPAS and when I collected my 2nd, which did, I almost bumped the car before getting it out of the forecourt as the steering was so much lighter.Try removing the fuse as suggested. The wheel arch rubbing problem I had has now been sorted. Hopefully bt this time tomorrow so will the rest..

Alan.
Alan Dunlop

The biggest improvent I made to my cars poor handling was to remove the front tyres that had worn more on the inner than the outer edges

I had the tracking done loads of times with the worn tyres and it made no difference at all to the feel!

I would honestly never have believed the difference the new tyres made and have never had a problem on any other car with this

IT MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE TO THE LIGHTNESS OF THE STEERING anbd felt much much better !!!!

In my opinion once the tyres are out of shape ie worn one side the Fs suspension just cant handle it and i dont think mileage will cure it!

One thing I would do is fit a better tyre to improve even more like a F1 or S03 but depends on what you have on the rear and front already - I had NCTs and there rubbish anyway - but fitting new made the improvement
tony

Alan how did they repair the rubbing on the wheel arch was it just as simple as a poorly fitting liner ?

Stephen Laithwaite

Apparently so. The advice on here is to heat and reshape it. I assume that is what was done, it is certainly cured.

Alan
Alan Dunlop

The MGF is a sports car, it has very precise steering, it is also sensitive; this is what I wanted. The draw back; any misalignment will have a severe impact on steering. The car should require experience and attention from the driver, and should go where it's pointed, immediately you point it there.
If you don't want sensitive steering, buy a family saloon; if these are misaligned a bit, you'll hardly notice.
Of course maintaining precise handling is more difficult, and necessary on an F; tyres that are worn more on the inside do indicate an alignment problem, and aligning the car with the worn tyres will not fix the problem. Also the alignment problem could easily be caused by worn or damaged components and subframes.
My experience in Great Britain is very few places can align a car correctly, so if you find one, use them, and let us know who and where they are.
I use US mechanics, who have the very latest alignment equipment, and a lot of training. However unless you are a US military service member you won't have access to my mechanics.
george

Chaps,

My '98 F Abingdon started to handle badly - wandering about on country roads - and failed its first MOT because the inner edges of the fronts (Eagle F1s) were completely worn out. The tracking was miles out - mileage was just 10,000 from new. I needed a full optical 4-wheel tracking job (done by B & G) and new tyres to get the handling back. What really pissed me off was that I had had the car regularly serviced, (last one was 1,500 miles before the MOT), and the dealers never mentioned the tyre wear - because the bastards never checked, even though it's on the schedule. Thanks, Faraday of Newbury, won't be dealing with you again.... AB

Adrian Bennett

This thread was discussed between 06/02/2002 and 08/02/2002

MG MGF Technical index

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